In
1973, Arno Peters, a German filmmaker and journalist, called a press conference
to denounce the widely accepted map of the world known as the “Mercator Map” (above).
Peters’ position was that the Mercator
Projection—a cylindrical projection first developed in 1569 by Flemish
cartographer Gerardus Mercator—was not only inaccurate, but downright racist. Peters
pointed out that the Mercator map has a distortion in the northern hemisphere,
making North American and Eurasian countries appear much larger than they
actually are. For example, Greenland and Africa are shown as roughly the same
size, although in reality Africa is about fourteen times larger. In contrast, the
regions along the equator—Africa, India, and South America, to name a
few—appear smaller, especially when seen next to the distorted northern half of
the map. It was Peters’ belief that this error led many in the developed world
to ignore the struggles of the larger, poorer nations near the equator.

Of
course Peters had a suggestion on how to fix this problem—his own map. The
Peters Projection map, which claimed to show the world in a more accurate,
equal-area fashion.

Because Peters’ map showed the size of developing nations more
accurately, charitable organizations that worked in those regions quickly gave
him their endorsement. Eventually his map became so well received that some
were calling for an all-out ban on the Mercator map, believing it to be an
outmoded symbol of colonialism.

The thing is, cartographers agreed that the Mercator map was
outdated, inaccurate, and wasn’t the best way to represent the world’s
landmasses. They’d been calling for the use of a new projection since the
1940s.

One of the reasons experts wanted to move away from the Mercator
was because of the distortion. However, they also understood that it was
distorted for good reason. The Mercator map was intended as a navigational tool
for European mariners, who could draw a straight line from Point A to Point B
and find their bearings with little trouble. Because it was made for European
navigators, it was actually helpful to show Europe larger than it really was.
It wasn’t a political statement, but a decision made purely for ease-of-use.

However, the biggest insult to cartographers was the Peters
projection itself. Peters claimed to
have created the projection, when in fact, it was essentially the same thing as
devised in 1855 by a cartographer named James Gall. Many have recognized
this similarity and now you’ll often see Peters’ map called “The Gall-Peters
Projection.”

Today, the controversy
is mostly dead. Both projections are seen as flawed and have fallen into disuse
as more accurate maps have been developed. In classrooms now, you’re more
likely to see the Robinson Projection or the Winkel Tripel Projection. The
Gall-Peters map is still favored by some organizations, though many map
publishers don’t even produce it anymore. And despite the controversy, the
Mercator projection is still one of the most widely used navigational tools in
the world—it’s the primary projection
for Google Maps.